promise sx8 sata driver

promise sx8 sata driver

[Chris Haumesser]

Hi,

I hope this isn't entirely inappropriate for this list, but I am trying
to learn more about the promise sx8 driver in the current 2.6-series
kernel. 

I'm currently running debian-sarge with a custom 2.6.11.10 kernel.

The sx8 driver does not use libata, and it is a separate block device,
outside of the scsi and ata hierarchies.  If I compile the driver into
my kernel, I end up with /dev/sx8/0 and /dev/sx8/0p1, etc.  However, no
scsi disk devices are created, and grub does not recognize that
/dev/sx8/ devices are disks.  There's no indication in /proc/scsi/ that
they are being registered with the scsi subsystem; this is clearly
different from every other sata controller I've used.  I've been
googling this for days, with no real luck.  I have found changelogs for
grub that suggest that my version (0.95) should support booting from the
sx8.

So my question is, how does one use this driver for sata disks?  Is my
problem a grub problem, or does it have something to do with the fact
that this is a separate block device from the ata/scsi subsystems?

There is a different open source driver directly available from promise,
which seems to work better for my needs; however, I would like to be
able to have the driver built directly into the kernel rather than
modularized.  When I insert the SATAIIS150.ko kernel module from this
driver, dmesg immediately shows my disks; they are assigned standard
scsi device nodes (sda, sdb, etc); and they are recognized by grub. 

What is the relationship between the promise driver and the one included
in the kernel?  Why does one work differently from the other?  Is there
something else I need to activate in my kernel configuration to get the
standard 2.6 kernel driver to work the way I expect?

I hope someone can shed some light.  I can't seem to find any
documentation or info anywhere.


Many thanks,


-C-

Re: promise sx8 sata driver

[Jeff Garzik]

Chris Haumesser wrote:
> The sx8 driver does not use libata, and it is a separate block device,
> outside of the scsi and ata hierarchies.  If I compile the driver into
> my kernel, I end up with /dev/sx8/0 and /dev/sx8/0p1, etc.  However, no
> scsi disk devices are created, and grub does not recognize that
> /dev/sx8/ devices are disks.  There's no indication in /proc/scsi/ that
> they are being registered with the scsi subsystem; this is clearly
> different from every other sata controller I've used.  I've been
> googling this for days, with no real luck.  I have found changelogs for
> grub that suggest that my version (0.95) should support booting from the
> sx8.

sx8 is a separate block driver, and has nothing whatsoever to do with scsi.


> So my question is, how does one use this driver for sata disks?  Is my
> problem a grub problem, or does it have something to do with the fact

a grub problem


> What is the relationship between the promise driver and the one included
> in the kernel?  Why does one work differently from the other?  Is there

Promise SX8 provides neither an ATA nor SCSI interface to the developer, 
so its not written as an ATA or SCSI driver.

	Jeff

Re: promise sx8 sata driver

[Kallol Biswas]

How good is 2.6.6 carmel.c driver for sx8 adapters? Does it support
the promise adapter? Why have you developed sx8.c?
 

On Mon, 2005-05-23 at 15:55, Jeff Garzik wrote:
> Chris Haumesser wrote:
> > The sx8 driver does not use libata, and it is a separate block device,
> > outside of the scsi and ata hierarchies.  If I compile the driver into
> > my kernel, I end up with /dev/sx8/0 and /dev/sx8/0p1, etc.  However, no
> > scsi disk devices are created, and grub does not recognize that
> > /dev/sx8/ devices are disks.  There's no indication in /proc/scsi/ that
> > they are being registered with the scsi subsystem; this is clearly
> > different from every other sata controller I've used.  I've been
> > googling this for days, with no real luck.  I have found changelogs for
> > grub that suggest that my version (0.95) should support booting from the
> > sx8.
> 
> sx8 is a separate block driver, and has nothing whatsoever to do with scsi.
> 
> 
> > So my question is, how does one use this driver for sata disks?  Is my
> > problem a grub problem, or does it have something to do with the fact
> 
> a grub problem
> 
> 
> > What is the relationship between the promise driver and the one included
> > in the kernel?  Why does one work differently from the other?  Is there
> 
> Promise SX8 provides neither an ATA nor SCSI interface to the developer, 
> so its not written as an ATA or SCSI driver.
> 
> 	Jeff
> 
> 
> -
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Re: promise sx8 sata driver

[Chris Haumesser]

I don't understand either.  The Promise driver (I think this is carmel?)
found at
http://www.promise.com/support/download/download2_eng.asp?productID=125&category=all&os=100#
seems to be GPL.  I haven't tested it extensively yet, but it appears to
provide scsi device nodes that grub recognizes readily.

Why are there two GPL driver projects for this card, and what is the
difference?  Is there something wrong with promise's driver, or
inherently superior in the kernel driver?  How is one supposed to
choose?  There is very little documentation for either driver, so it is
quite unclear which is appropriate for a given application.


-C-


Kallol Biswas wrote:

>How good is 2.6.6 carmel.c driver for sx8 adapters? Does it support
>the promise adapter? Why have you developed sx8.c?
> 
>
>On Mon, 2005-05-23 at 15:55, Jeff Garzik wrote:
>  
>
>>Chris Haumesser wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>The sx8 driver does not use libata, and it is a separate block device,
>>>outside of the scsi and ata hierarchies.  If I compile the driver into
>>>my kernel, I end up with /dev/sx8/0 and /dev/sx8/0p1, etc.  However, no
>>>scsi disk devices are created, and grub does not recognize that
>>>/dev/sx8/ devices are disks.  There's no indication in /proc/scsi/ that
>>>they are being registered with the scsi subsystem; this is clearly
>>>different from every other sata controller I've used.  I've been
>>>googling this for days, with no real luck.  I have found changelogs for
>>>grub that suggest that my version (0.95) should support booting from the
>>>sx8.
>>>      
>>>
>>sx8 is a separate block driver, and has nothing whatsoever to do with scsi.
>>
>>
>>    
>>
>>>So my question is, how does one use this driver for sata disks?  Is my
>>>problem a grub problem, or does it have something to do with the fact
>>>      
>>>
>>a grub problem
>>
>>
>>    
>>
>>>What is the relationship between the promise driver and the one included
>>>in the kernel?  Why does one work differently from the other?  Is there
>>>      
>>>
>>Promise SX8 provides neither an ATA nor SCSI interface to the developer, 
>>so its not written as an ATA or SCSI driver.
>>
>>	Jeff
>>
>>
>>-
>>To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
>>the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
>>More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
>>Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/
>>    
>>
>
>  
>

Re: promise sx8 sata driver

[Jeff Garzik]

Chris Haumesser wrote:
> I don't understand either.  The Promise driver (I think this is carmel?)
> found at
> http://www.promise.com/support/download/download2_eng.asp?productID=125&category=all&os=100#
> seems to be GPL.  I haven't tested it extensively yet, but it appears to
> provide scsi device nodes that grub recognizes readily.
> 
> Why are there two GPL driver projects for this card, and what is the
> difference?  Is there something wrong with promise's driver, or
> inherently superior in the kernel driver?  How is one supposed to
> choose?  There is very little documentation for either driver, so it is
> quite unclear which is appropriate for a given application.

Promise SX8 is not SCSI, and should not be a SCSI driver.

	Jeff